Back On The Dirt Again...Never A Dull Moment Here

Yes, the real Graceland Ranch

Here we go again. Things have settled down somewhat and now have a half-butt riding schedule. My TX Rando routes now number only 2, but 4 more in the works...including Graceland To Detroit & Walmart To Woodstock! Yes, there is a Woodstock and Graceland here.. not far from our place either! Surprised at how many forests and logging roads around here.

I'll be passing along my SD area routes to the hard working RBA there...Dave Danovsky. Tried to convince several SDrandos to take them over, but seems the liability issue is a concern. There are many great, hard routes...including MTB and various gravel routes too. I'm sure some will be chucked and die out... but the videos & memories will live on!

Alan Gustin riding RAT-1000 on the NETT

Been busy with various house things, exploring new gravel routes and NETT (North East Texas
Trail), which is just behind the house. Met a rider the other day on the Trail over by Dekalb(Alan Gustin) riding the RAT-1000 as an ITT (Race Across Texas-1000miles). Never heard of that one, so I checked things out and cobbled together the route. Already rode some of that.. mostly all gravel roads, but zigs and zags all over the place, making it's way west to NMexico. I'll do that whole thing soon. It's a bikepacker route. I'm not set up for overnights, just long rides now. OH, Alan had to bail out after 2 days due to achilles tendon pain and not keeping to his planned schedule.

Robert Axle Project Thru-Axle for Diverge gravel bike

Weather here is a whole lot different that the SD area weather. It actually rains here! That means I had to set up the trainer. Well, the Specialized Diverge gravel bike's axle wouldn't fit, so had to order a special axle from Robert's Axle Project. Hi-quality thru-axle for the trainer that you can just leave-on for gravel riding also. A little pricey too. Modified my old Performance Bike basic trainer to fit the wider axles. Just cut down the right side axle holder by 1/2". put it back together and added some Loctite Red to the shaft/sleeve connection. Bingo, that worked good.

North East Texas Trail (NETT) just behind house.

Zaharah has a newish bike now. Specialized Roll. Nice riding bike with wide 2.1" tires and single chain-ring. Set it up on the trainer for her during the rainy days. Joe Morgan sent it out from his shop in Temecula... packed with goodies and of course, super-deal mode.

Been lagging on my video work. Have lots of footage, but just haven't put it together as a viable story/route yet. Plenty of roads & paths to include around here. In the meantime, I managed to join the LSR (Lone Star Randonneurs) To ride a LSR Brevet around here, you need to not only be a RUSA member, but also join up LSR. Many of their brevets start around Dallas/Fort Worth area...a whole lotta miles from home.

- randorides